Why Cody Johnson isn’t riding a horse on the ‘Banks of the Trinity’ cover

Since the title track of Cody Johnson’s new record, Banks of the Trinity, seems like an autobiographical throwback to his Texas childhood, it’s easy to assume he wrote it specifically as the album’s anchor. 

But the truth is, Cody didn’t have a hand in writing it at all — or a vision for what his sixth album would be called.

“I really didn’t have a title for my new album until I heard the song ‘Banks of the Trinity,'” he reveals. “And I went, ‘Oh, that’s it. I can paint a visual picture on this piece of work from the vinyls to the CDs to the t-shirts to the hats that’s a little bit different than, “Hey, look, it’s Cody Johnson on a horse,”‘ you know.”

“That’s what I live every day, but the song, ‘Banks of The Trinity,’ really took me back to a piece of my childhood,” he adds. 

“Banks of the Trinity” was written by Rodney Clawson, Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear.

Since the ACM entertainer of the year grew up near the Trinity River in Sebastopol, Texas, hearing the lyrics brought back a flood of memories for him, including ones of Lawrence Grocery, which is immortalized on the cover. 

And speaking of horses, they’re still getting their fair share of attention, since the album’s lead single is the humorous, rap-adjacent “Horseback.”